Urban Green Spaces As Promoters of Healthy Living: Evidence From Putrajaya, Malaysia


 Open spaces have a significant positive impact on the overall well-being of the residents of urban areas and the influence on the use of recreational facilities due to the extent of the residents' engagement with these infrastructures and active lifestyles. The effectiveness of using these spaces on the well-being of residents is on their relative quality, quantity, and accessibility. Putrajaya houses 350,000 residents; about 4,931 (37%) of the total landmass was designated as open space to have a balanced city. Four of the twenty open spaces were purposeful selected based on their respective quality and services for the harmonious development of Putrajaya. A convenient sampling technique (non-probability) determines the respondents in each designated open space. This research used the survey data collection method to collect the primary data, using a cross-sectional approach. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was used to determine the extent and direction of the relationship between open space attributes and health promotion. And multiple regression analysis (entered method) was adopted to predict the health promotion' of residents who visited the provided open spaces based on their respective quality, quantity, and accessibility. The results reveal that the areas' sizes, existing facilities, and greenness are the predominant influencing incentives that attract patronage by both local and international users. Meanwhile, when designing open space to promote the health status of respective users, effort must be toward providing high aesthetic quality in sufficient quantity and size, as indicated in this study.


Introduction
Health is de ned by the World Health Organization (WHO) as not just the absence of diseases but as a state of the complete state of mental, physical, and psychological well-being. Therefore, such approaches, actions, and policies geared towards in uencing and maintaining physical and psychological well-being can readily be one of the enablers of health promotion. An optimal urban design can promote the health status of residents on the one hand by providing social services close to the residents (Badland et al., 2014), and on the other, integrating open spaces in densely populated built areas to enhance and promote active living (Giles-Corti et al., 2013). Urban planning to improve residents' health status is traceable to the post-war period . Most American and European cities experienced rapid industrialization characterized by pathogenic urban degradation (Corburn, 2007).
Overcrowding and pollution in urban areas led to increased contagious diseases. Thus, creating urban parks is considered an enabler for mitigating the consequences of urban degradation and offering the cities some breathing spaces (Corburn, 2007). which can positively in uence the health status of its residents. They drive a healthy lifestyle, such as recreational facilities for self-ful llment, relief from stressful conditions, and a departure from a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, the need for the provision of decently designed and managed open spaces is more than a prerequisite if a healthy urban lifestyle is to be improved and maintained.
The sprawling system of urban development, which is considered lower density, single land use pattern, limited open spaces, and poor network connectivity, harms the healthy well-being of urban residents (Badland et al., 2014). A compact system e ciently integrated with su cient open spaces with multiple land uses represents sustainability attributes. Therefore, urban sprawl and compact system of development are the two urban design techniques that provoke much academic and political argument (Jabareen, 2006). Supporters of each system based their opinion on the context of their country's peculiar characteristics (Burge et al., 2014). Both politicians and academics presently contested a sprawling system (Goetz, 2013). It was related to tra c accidents, air and water pollution risk, and physical Some countries (for instance, Australia) have already recognized the importance of collaborating between health agencies and town planners. Planning Institutes of Australia (PIA), in its 2010 report, highlighted how collaboration between two agencies reduced health expenditures (Planning Institute of Australia, 2010). Meanwhile, preventive measures are more effective and cost-e cient than curative Medicare. Urban planning, therefore, is one of the leading mechanisms that can enhance the health status of urban residents by providing open spaces within the urban fabric, which stimulate green exercise and hence reduce the incidence of obesity resulting from inactivity.

Material And Methods
A detailed closed-ended questionnaire captured the respondents' views on the provided open space they visited. Open spaces are described based on their respective quality, quantity supplied (both size and number), and accessibility by the general public. The questionnaire also elicits the bene t derived from visiting open spaces by the residents. The questionnaire uses a bilingual strategy to understand its contents clearly.

Study area
Putrajaya is 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, 20km to the North of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), and within 50km of the Malaysian Super Corridor (MSC). The city lies on latitude N 20 55'34.8996" and on longitude E 1010 41'47.202". The city of Putrajaya is to house 350,000 residents when completed, and the present population is 72,413 (Federal Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2010).
The city of Putrajaya is a Federal Capital Territory designed with much environmental consideration. It can become a model for other cities and play a pioneering role in Asian cities. The total landmass of Putrajaya is about 4931 hectares, of which one-third (37%) was green spaces, including gardens and parks. Putrajaya Lake collects surface runoff water to control ooding in the planned city and moderate temperature for a liveable environment. The designed open spaces provide recreational function and ecological service (Moser, 2010). Putrajaya Lake serves as a check on moderating harsh temperature, thereby stimulating green exercise. It serves as a corridor that connects different open spaces to ensure the conservation of both ora and fauna in the study area (see Figure 1). It provides the residence with an opportunity to engage in recreational activities. The lake covered about 197.20 hectares, with planted regions covering approximately 77.70 hectares and an open water body covering 76.80 hectares.

Units of Analysis
The researchers made a purposeful selection of open spaces based on their respective quality and services for the harmonious development of Putrajaya. This method is the most viable option because Putrajaya has been a city designed in neighborhood concept, consisting of twenty different precincts with neighborhood parks in every individual precinct. Thus, the arrangement of the precincts does not conform to any systematic categorization that would permit a random sampling technique. Therefore, individuals were selected as respondents using the non-probability method (Convenient Sampling Technique). This technique implies that respondents are chosen based on their availability. Essentially, Putrajaya Lake, Taman Putra Perdana, Taman Saujana Hijau, and Taman Botani were selected for the study.
Taman Putra Perdana is in precinct one in Putrajaya city; the park is an intermediary between the natural domains to the North and the Government o ces and Commercial domains to the South and Eastern part, respectively. The arrangement would reduce the impact of commercial and administrative activities that would be detrimental to the ecosystem in the northern site. Taman Putra Perdana is about 64 hectares as such is considered large enough to accommodate various open space users, and is well integrated within the urban fabric. E cient design and combination of available water bodies with greeneries provide a relaxed atmosphere for park visitors.
At Precinct 11, Putrajaya, Taman Saujana Hijau is a public park with lush greenery and pine trees decorating hilly terrain that covered 41 hectares. This setting has several bene ts in controlling erosion of the hilly side, limiting residential growth, and serving as a recreational center to the residents of Precinct 11. These qualities present a unique view that attracts various categories of open space users. A park is an ideal place for family outings and recreation activities.
Taman Botani is in the northern part of Precinct 1 of Putrajaya. The land area covered by the park extends to about 92 hectares which is the biggest of its kind in Malaysia. The park consisted of owering, ornamental plants, preservation, and scienti c research. Taman Botani contained about 700 variety of plant for research, with lush exotic owers that enhances the park's quality and attractiveness for the visitors.

Sample Size and Sampling Technique
The idea of sampling is to collect some numbers from the whole population to make inferences about the people. Sample choosing must be an accurate representation of the entire population. Putrajaya has about 72,000 populations (Putrajaya holdings, 2013). The sample used was 400 based on (Krejcie & Morgan, 1970) table of sample size that gives 382 as the sample size for 75,000 people, while the researchers use the formula given by the same authors as "s = X 2 NP(1−P) ÷d 2 (N-1) + X 2 P(1−P) with a population of 72,000 that generated the answer to be 386, with a difference of 4 as given by the table on the population size of 75,000. Three hundred and eighty-six (386) respondents participated in the study, drawn from 75000 residents of Putrajaya using a convenient sampling technique. Three hundred and seventy-one (371) valid questionnaires were then used for the analysis. The research uses a survey method in collecting the primary data, a technique judged to be the most appropriate in this circumstance (Ghosh & Żądło, 2014). The data contained in this research is cross-sectional, implying that the data was collected simultaneously (Brick & Williams, 2012). The duration of data collection lasts for forty days starting from 15th January, 2014-1st March 2014.

Qualitative Rating Criteria of Open Spaces
The researchers rated the four selected Open spaces with the sole purpose of providing a critical overview that would permit replication of the procedure as the case with every subjective analysis. Each of the three attributes used in the study was rated equally. The rating ranges from "Good" denoted as 3, "average" with a score of 2, and limited with a score of 1 (

Reliability
The Cronbach alpha provides a coe cient of inter-item correlations, that is, the correlation of each item with the sum of all the other relevant articles, and is helpful for multi-item scales. Thus, it signi es that all the constructs provided in the questionnaire containing ve or nine items could be considered suitable candidates for measuring inter-item correlation based on alpha values. The alpha coe cient ranges in value from the highest score of one (1) to the lowest score of zero (0); these are values obtained in predicting construct reliability in a given questionnaire instrument. Cortina (1993) has indicated the value of 0.7 as an acceptable reliability coe cient; meanwhile, all the values obtained in this study have a good reliability coe cient.

Statistical Analysis
The variables used in the study are latent variables that are not directly observed but in uences statistical analysis. The constructs used are quality, quantity, and accessibility. Each of these variables contained several questions. The series of questions are summed-up before analysis. Thus, average values represent the construct used in the study. The research undertakes Pearson product-moment correlation analysis to determine the relationship and direction between the attributes of open space (quality of the chosen open space, its quantity, and accessibility) and health promotion. The analysis determines the relationship between each component of the urban green space attributes and health promotion bene ts derived from visits. Pearson correlation is a suitable technique in determining the relationship between two variables containing one dependent variable and one independent variable (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). Pearson is a parametric technique that can be applied when data obtained from the eld is assumed normality distribution (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). The multiple linear regression analysis was conducted in this research to elicit the relationship between attributes of urban green spaces selected in Putrajaya (quality X 1 , quantity X 2 , and accessibility X 3 ) as independent variables.
Health promotion bene ts enjoyed while visiting the open spaces as dependent variable Y. Multiple regression analysis helps measure the relationship between one dependent variable (DV) and two or more independent variables (IV's) (Fox, 2015). Kilic (2013) highlighted that multiple regression analysis could also predict the most predicting variable amongst the IVs. To determine the best predictors of health promotion; while visiting open spaces in Putrajaya. Three predictor variables of multiple regression models consisted: quality (x 1 ), quantity (x 2 ), and accessibility (x 3 ) as speci ed below: The proposed hypothesis test to examine the validity of the model as follows:

Result
Putrajaya Lake (M=8) and Taman Putra Perdana (M=7) scored a high mean score amongst the selected four open spaces ( Table 1). The parks have facilities that contain unique attributes that integrate both blue and green potentials of open space that combined to enhance the quality of the park and attract various visitors. Putrajaya Lake park has the highest mean score (M=8), with the quantity attribute having a three mean score because it is the largest of the four open spaces selected in Putrajaya. The open space contained both blue and green features of landscape facilities with e cient consideration of the principle of landscape architecture that enhances the placement of unity and texture to promote place identity. This unique combination of the attributes attracts a score of 3 points. The quality facilitated the attraction of both local users and international tourists. Despite this advantage of good quality and su cient size, Putrajaya Lake has its boundary connected to Taman Botani and Taman Putra Perdana and extended to some precincts within Putrajaya City. This comprehensive coverage enables the lake to be well accessible and attracts two mean points in terms of accessibility. The park is located strategically within the heart of Putrajaya, which makes the open space highly accessible from any location in the city, thus, promote visitation. The size of Taman Putra Perdana is about 64 hectares and has a low mean score (M= 1) again in terms of quantity as such is considered to be large enough to accommodate potential users. However, Taman Botani was rated low (M=5) with the highest score in terms of quality and least mean scores in quantity and accessibility. The result is due to its location between Taman Putra Perdana and Putrajaya Lake Park, which serves as both advantage and constraint to the open space. Putrajaya Lake enhances the quality and retains moisture that ensures the survival of nurseries and other plant species that require su cient water to survive. The combination of both blue and green attributes has facilitated a high score in terms of the quality of the open space; whereas, the location in-between the two open spaces has constrained its accessibility. One would hardly distinguish between Putra Perdana and Taman Botani.
Meanwhile, there is no clear distinction between the two open spaces, as indicated in gure one. Putrajaya Lake also has limited accessibility to Taman Botani, thus in uencing the low ratings in its accessibility. Taman Botani also attracts the lowest mean score (M=1) in terms of quantity despite its size amounting to (92 hectares) which is large enough to accommodate both scienti c adventurers and recreationists.
Taman  Findings also have shown (Table 3)

Predictor Of Health Promotion In Putrajaya Open Spaces
To determine the best set of predictor variables in predicting the health promotion of visitors to open spaces in Putrajaya, entered method of multiple regressions was used ( Table 4). As depicted in the coe cient of regression table, the estimates of the model coe cient b 0 are 13.239, b 1 is 0.246, b 2 is 0.373, and b 3 is 0.40. Therefore, the estimated model is as below  The ANOVA result presented in Table 5 revealed that the F-statistics (38.584) is relatively good. Still, the corresponding p-value is highly signi cant (0.000), lower than the set alpha value of 0.05. The result indicated that the slope of the estimated linear regression model is not equal to zero, con rming a linear relationship between health promotion of open space visitation in Putrajaya and the three explanatory variables.

Conclusion
The relationship between optimized urban design and public health has been investigated in this study using reliable statistics.

Declarations # Funding
Not applicable

# Con icts of interest/Competing interests (include appropriate disclosures)
There is no con icting interest/competing interest regarding the submitted manuscript # Availability of data and material (data transparency) The data used in developing the manuscript is within the text submitted for consideration # Code availability (software application or custom code)